A Piece of Company History: an Energy Company's Charity Auction
How a major North Sea energy company ran a private, password-protected live auction of 72 lots of its own artwork and memorabilia, raising £7,468 for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance and CLAN Cancer Support without a penny passing through company accounts.
£7,468
Raised for two Scottish charities
275 bids
On 72 lots, in two and a half days
1 second
Between the final bid and the close
Not every fundraiser starts in a charity. This one started on the office walls of a major North Sea energy company: decades of commissioned artwork, platform photography and memorabilia from a long working history offshore. Rather than let it sit in storage, the company decided to auction it to colleagues and friends of the business, and give the proceeds to charity.
The Challenge
A company is not a charity, and corporate fundraising carries a legal wrinkle most businesses have never heard of: the moment you tell people the proceeds are going to charity, that money was never yours to hold. Add 72 lots, dozens of bidders, payment collection and winner notifications, and a well-meaning idea starts to look like a compliance and admin headache for somebody's day job.
The Solution
The company ran the whole auction through DONATE™ with a corporate account:
- A page for every lot. All 72 pieces listed with photos and their story, easy to browse and share internally.
- Password-protected. The auction was private: only people with the company's password could see the lots and bid, keeping a staff event for staff.
- Real-time live bidding. Prices updated live as bids came in, from any phone or laptop, and the moment someone was outbid they were told, so they could come straight back with a higher offer.
- A hard close time. Every lot closed at 5pm sharp on the final day, which is exactly what turned browsing into bidding.
- Winners handled automatically. Winning bidders were notified and paid online by card, with nothing to chase.
- The money never touched company accounts. Donations were made to National Funding Scheme, itself a UK registered charity, and passed straight to the company's chosen causes. The commercial participator problem removed at the root.
- Two charities, one auction. Proceeds were split equally between Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance and CLAN Cancer Support, with the split handled by the platform rather than the finance team.
The Result
The auction ran for just two and a half days, opening on a Tuesday morning and closing at 5pm on the Thursday. Twenty-six colleagues placed 275 bids across the 72 lots, prices climbing in real time as outbid alerts went out, and the final bid landed one second before the close.
When the virtual hammer fell, the auction had raised £7,468, with the most sought-after piece fetching £2,550. Staff took home a piece of their company's history, two charities shared the proceeds, and nobody in the finance team had to work out what to do with charity money in a company account.
Planning something similar? See how corporate fundraising works